Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Yesterday, I got to join fellow educators at the KPL to discuss ways in which we can connect and collaborate with teachers and students within our board and beyond. It was energizing to hear colleagues speak about the great work they are doing and the ideas that they have.

I tagged along with Katrina Gouett and together we led a session on Google Hangouts in which we tried to illustrate how Hangouts could lead to opportunities to connect classrooms. I absolutely loved looking at people's faces when they learned that Hangouts could be recorded or broadcasted live -- you could just see the light bulbs going off; the possibilities for learning, for connecting. It was very cool!

After the second session as people were starting to transition to another space, a young man with a beard and glasses, wearing an overcoat and toque, approached our table and said, "Mr. Rodrigue, I knew that was you." He went on to speak about his time as a student in my grade 7 class (he's now 21) and the impact that I had on him. I can't begin to express how grateful and humbled I am by this experience. I've been teaching for almost 18 years and I still question what I do, how I do it and how I can improve at it. The internal dialogue and self-reflection is constant as I believe it is for many teachers, particularly the group of teachers who attended yesterday's conference.

While walking home from the KPL, I felt doubly fortunate: I got to start my week by learning with colleagues about how we can better connect with teachers and students and, as luck would have it, I was able to see how important these connections are to the students we are working with.

Monday, November 28, 2016

Excited to explore Blogger with fellow WCDSB educators this afternoon!Let's start with the WHY:
*Creating a portfolio is a reflective process*Efficient way to document the learning journey*Connect with others

Check out the Slide Deck below for ideas and suggestions for getting started.

Add your reflections on Blogfolios for class and student reflection in the comments below!

Friday, November 25, 2016

This afternoon we connected with a parent expert in our class who works with machinery to produce metal works. As an mechanical engineer, he had lots of teach us about design and product production.

With our 3D printing project, we keep seeing the word "micron" and wondered what it's all about. Mr. S was in our classroom for conferences, noticed the word on the board, and mentioned that he could help us out. Very cool! Connecting with experts in the real world is so valuable for expanding our learning and making it more memorable.What are Microns? Microns are a very fine unit of linear of measurement.

1 micron = millionth of a meter

1000 microns = 1mm

1 human hair =40-80 microns

At his workplace, measurements have to be perfect to get exact results for parts and products for customers. For example, they have printed landing gear for aerospace designs!

Mr. S showed us the gauge they use to measure microns. Since it is measuring units so small, you need to be very careful when using it.

He took us on a tour of the shop and showed us a metal Eiffel Tower being trimmed by the machine. It is about 0.5m tall.

It was very helpful for us to 'hangout' with Mr. S today and we are now connecting our learning about microns with our 3D printer.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Over the past few weeks we have been learning about ecosystems and the impact humans have on their delicate balance. My teaching partner came across this website and we signed up for a camera spot. We connected with National Geographic Education's special guest Jonathan Colby who is studying frogs and the impact of the Chyrid fungus on their survival. The students listened intently as he described what he does (loved the idea of hanging out in tree canopies in the rainforest), and how they are working to protect amphibian species. Students from all ten connected classrooms from around North America had the chance to ask questions at the end of his talk. It was an incredible opportunity to connect with an expert and really brought the curriculum to life.

Connecting with experts and organizations through Google #hangouts provides us with such an incredible opportunity to make the curriculum come to life for students. It is empowering for them to see and hear how people are making a difference in the lives of others (& lives of frogs).

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Our connection with +Carlos Roque's class in Cambridge is taking off! Carlos' students have provided my students with two Math tasks that we have worked through. The activities that we are engaging in are exciting to the students and provides them with 'real life' reasons to "do" Math. It's interesting to hear them and watch them work on solving the patterning questions that have been shared with us via Google Drive.

Since the activities are being created by students for students, there seems to be a lot more engagement and 'pride' in creating and completing tasks. It's not all work though, there is some fun happening as well. Carlos' class sent us a Halloween message via YouTube - check it out:

Prior to this message by Carlos's students we had created two videos for them - answering the Math tasks that they had sent to us. Jeff represents our class in sharing our process/answer in the first video and Amanda represents our class in sharing our response in the second video.

I'm sure you have noticed that I am not sharing the identity of the students in my class. For recorded videos that live on the Internet, my students and I have decided not to share their identity. However, that doesn't stop us from using our audio which the students are very excited about. It may lead to a few podcasts which are another way for us to connect with other classes and share our learning.

We recently created a Math activity for Mr. Roque's class via Google Docs. We shared the Doc with Mr. Roque and then made a short video about it:

We look forward to hearing back from our friends in Cambridge and can't wait for our next live meeting with them. It certainly is a valuable connection for the teachers and students involved. As we progress on our learning journey, Mr. Roque and I continue to learn how to leverage the tech tools involved in getting our classes together. As we are learning, so are our students - first hand and in real time. They know that the walls that surround our classrooms are simply physical barriers that protect us from the elements, not from learning with anyone in the world that has access to technology. Until our next post, get and/or stay connected!